This invention relates to game performing method for executing a given sports game.
Among video games implemented by a device such as a computer, there are known sports games in which a plurality of groups possessing a plurality of player characters play a plurality of games as a team during a virtual competition period. The “competition period” herein refers to a period during which the teams play the games to win the championship based on a predetermined schedule. Examples of such games are baseball games, in which a plurality of teams play official games during the virtual pennant race period (official game period; competition period), and soccer games in which a plurality of club teams play league games.
These official game type (pennant race type) sports games feature events to change the configurations of player characters belonging to the groups, as in the real sports world. Examples of such events include the so-called “trade” or “transfer,” in which groups exchange a player character with another player character or money, and “foreign player acquirement” or “scout,” in which a new player character is added to a group through a contract or persuasion.
In an example of such games, a scouting character (corresponding to a scout man) is operated by the game player to move on a predetermined map. A scouting event occurs to the group when the scouting character comes across another character, and the scout is determined to be a success or failure based on the play results of a mini-game in the event (see, for example, JP-Tokukai-2000-167244A; for all claims).
In another example, the success or failure of a scout for a player character to a group is determined based on the results of a persuasion in the game, in which the game player makes a selection of words for scouting while imagining (reading) the personality of the player character (see, for example, JP-Tokukai-2001-276433A; for all claims).
In still another example, a player character released from a group is brought to an auction, in which bids are made, and each group uses its virtual funds to acquire the player character (see, for example, JP-Tokukai-2002-263367A; for all claims).
The game player manages a group, changes the configuration of player characters of the group through events such as scouts and trades, and increases its strength by changing the team arrangement for official games, thereby advantageously proceeding with the game.
In the real professional sports world, configuration changes of the players such as by a trade are often carried out as an appropriate event during the competition period in response to the relative strengths of groups so that each group can increase its total strength. As a result of the configuration changes of the players such as by a trade, a variety of effects and functions are brought about, such as balancing strengths between groups, raising the morale of players of a group, and realizing a characteristic team arrangement, thereby enhancing the appeal of the official games.
In the conventional virtual sports games, however, events such as a trade occur most exclusively for a group controlled by the game player, and do not occur at all for the other groups that participate in the official games or, even when these events occur, just occur on a simple basis or at random. Therefore, events such as a trade that occur in the game are merely exchanges of player characters irrelevant to the relative strengths of groups, and the potential functions and effects of configuration changes of the player characters could not have been achieved in the game. Particularly in the reality-oriented games, this has been a great disadvantage, obstructing the achievement of augmented reality throughout the game.